Noise makers for the Big House..Ideas?

Submitted by pistons7373 on

For the past few years I have been thinking of ideas for noise makers for the big house.  I went to the game a couple years ago when we played AT Oregon. It was EXTREMELY loud. All of the fans had duck calls or actual whistles decorated as ducks. It created an annoying, but effective sound that truly affected our players. I remember when USC played at Oregon a few years ago, the commentators were saying how USC had practiced hand signals all week to prepare for the deafening sound in the stadium. Why don't we do something like this? Can't someone modify a duck call to make a more "growling" sound? I think we should all work together and come up with some ideas to implement for the new era of Michigan football. New stadium. New level of loudness. Lets make it so we aren't the "quietest group of 109K people".

GO BLUE!!

ChitownWolverine82

July 17th, 2010 at 11:57 PM ^

The first rule of MGoPoints: Don't talk about MGoPoints.

Speaking from experience, the more you worry about them, the further south they go.  Just stick to commenting and you should be fine.

BTW, the cowbell for Go Blue works great, otherwise I think no noise makers are needed.  Yelling louder would be appropriate.

IndyBlue

July 23rd, 2010 at 9:34 AM ^

I can't figure out why people see "I could care less," as that means "I actually do give a shit" when the purpose of the statement is to show how much you don't care.  Ok, this thread is really off topic now, but just thought I'd toss out one of my pet peeves.

Zone Left

July 17th, 2010 at 5:27 PM ^

The band has nice noisemakers.  Personally, I can't stand artificial noisemakers.  They just give me a headache.  I'd rather have fun and cheer the team on than bang two sticks together or blow on a vuvuzela.

UMxWolverines

July 17th, 2010 at 5:33 PM ^

How many false start penalties did we cause for Notre Dame and Western? And I'm pretty sure both teams had to use time outs multiple times because they couldn't hear. BUT, we can do better this year!

Kal

July 17th, 2010 at 5:36 PM ^

Oregon has the loudest stadium in the country for a reason. It's designed to hold in sound significantly better than the big house. That being said, with the luxury boxes holding in more sound we won't be known as the quietest 110,000 people in the country anymore..... once we have victories to get excited about anyways. The Notre Dame game last year was deafening in the 4th quarter.

UMxWolverines

July 17th, 2010 at 5:42 PM ^

True Oregon's was designed for noise, but our stadium being open and not being able to hold in noise is bs. Kinnick Stadium is just as open as the Big House and I heard it gets crazy in there too. 

Don

July 18th, 2010 at 6:57 AM ^

I haven't been to Kinnick so I can't speak from experience, but the photos of Michigan stadium and Kinnick together make it appear as though the stands are approximately raked to the same degree. This might be an effect of the camera lenses taking the photos; the image linked here of Kinnick gives the impression of a substantially steeper rake than at the Big House:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/cd/Kinnick_Stadium_2007.jpg

The argument shouldn't be either/or... our noise, or typical lack thereof, is not due to one single thing, but both things: our physical structure and resulting acoustics, in combination with a sizeable percentage of Michigan fans who seem to regard actively cheering as unseemly behavior. If our fans at the Big House were as consistently loud as they are at Yost, they'd be calling us Autzen East, even with no additions.

I've wondered if the acoustics resulting from our shallow bowl have not offered the instant acoustic feedback that other stadiums do; if your shout seems to reverberate and return to you, you're more likely to keep shouting. If your shout seems to die in the air with no return, you're more likely to stop shouting unless the specific conditions of the game provide enough motivation to continue. It's a question of acoustic reinforcement, and the additions should help with that.

When I think back to all the games I attended in the '70s and early '80s, the dominant sound in my memory is of the planes droning around the stadium pulling their banners over a pretty somnolent, quiescent crowd, even if we were beating the crap out of somebody.

schmakj

July 17th, 2010 at 6:27 PM ^

And that makes a difference on the sidelines.

If your approximation of 7 feet is correct, then 7 feet is approximately 2-3 additional rows of people closer to the team bench (and from field level, the Kinnick stands are much closer to level with the teams on the sideline, whereas Michigan Stadium's are raised above and further back... The setup at Iowa nearly puts the first few rows of fans in the bench)

2-3 rows of people, with 5 sections along the team bench at approximately 40 seats per section equates to an additional 400-600 more fans occupying space which would otherwise be filled with press, photographers, trunks for equipment and training staff purposes, etc etc.

Even if it's only 7 feet, and it is probably a few more, it makes a difference, on the bench, on the field.

The bigger difference between field noise levels at Michigan and Iowa, however, is the drastic difference in the steepness of the stands. The closeness of the stands is indeed a factor, though.

jmblue

July 17th, 2010 at 7:08 PM ^

Look, maybe Kinnick's stands are sloped more steeply than ours, but so what?  That doesn't change the fact that we have quiet fans.  Can you honestly deny that?  Why do you think "Down in front!" is a running joke around here? 

schmakj

July 17th, 2010 at 7:22 PM ^

Not sure why that pic is not the right one.

jmblue: My point was simply that the initial statement: "Kinnick Stadium is just as open as the Big House" is not accurate.

The architecture and setup of Michigan Stadium does not equal Kinnick Stadium. I did not want to delve into the discussion about fan demographics and gameday experience. I'm sorry that it came across that way.

FA: Thanks for the help. My first time trying to post a picture has not been a success. Maybe I'll put in the right URL this time?

jmblue

July 17th, 2010 at 6:18 PM ^

Enough with the excuses already.  Our stadium isn't loud because our fans aren't loud.  We have the same issue in basketball, and that's an indoor building.  The fact of the matter is that on the rare occasions when the old people in the stadium actually do cheer - like at the end of a close game - our stadium does get loud.  That wouldn't be possible if the acoustics were as bad as people claim.  Our problem is that a lot of our fans either don't want to make noise or feel embarassed about doing so.  We'll most likely keep on having this debate until the opera crowd at midfield finally passes on (though it's possible that today's younger alumni will turn into an opera crowd as they age, too).

Wolverine318

July 17th, 2010 at 7:29 PM ^

Yes, the old people are to blame. However, the physical design of our stadium is also to blame.  with the narrow angle of the open bowl it pushes the students and fans farther away from the field. Secondly, the angle at which sound is directed towards the field allows for much of the sound the escape. It is basic physics. 

jmblue

July 17th, 2010 at 7:41 PM ^

Bitching about acoustics is a red herring.  When you have 110,000 people, they don't need perfect acoustics to make noise.  In any part of the stadium, you can hear the students when they're making noise when the other team has the ball.  And on the rare occasions when the rest of the stadium gets into it (usually only in the fourth quarter of a close game), the stadium can be deafening.  The real problem isn't the slope of the stands, it's that the 90,000 non-students at the game can't seem to figure out that it's advantageous to make noise all game when the other team has the ball.  As long as that remains the case, it doesn't matter how fantastic our acoustics become with the new structures.  We need to educate the older alumni about the need to be vocal.  Whining about the acoustics just muddles the argument.   

XxNoRemorsExX

July 20th, 2010 at 5:42 PM ^

100% agreed.  Does anyone remember how loud it got during the '04 UM/MSU 3OT thriller?  It was almost painfully loud.  It's just sad that it takes rare moments like that to incite that level of excitement and vigor.  I've been to many stadiums including Kinnick and Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, NE and they are on their feet cheering and screaming from start to finish for the most part.  I understand it's hard to get excited when things aren't going your way, but realize that a loud crowd can help you turn the tide for your team.  I played basketball in one of the loudest high school gyms in the country and trust me, the crowd helped us immensely.  I emplore you, my fellow M fans, to get loud even for no reason and help our team to victory.  Go Blue!